Taylor Hackford's botched attempt at film-noir, Against All Odds, a loose remake of 1947's Out of the Past, is a curious blend of unfulfilled potential and the look, but not the feel, of excitement. Why isn't this plot twist-filled story interesting? Why aren't the characters compelling? The honest truth is that I don't quite know. I only know that I felt distaste and disgust when I should have felt suspense and horror. Rarely do individual scenes strike the right note, and it only draws attention to the many others that do not. A scene toward the end, where Rachel Ward uses her wits to dispose of a security guard's dog, is a skillfully constructed scene, well paced and well written. If the rest of it had been so nimble, this would have been a film to reckon with. As it is, it's a clumsy, inconsistent, and forgettable.